The Straight-Ticket Voting E-Mails: Ignore Them

Election season brings crazy e-mail time, and we don't just mean all those Obama-worships-the-Koran things your grandmother forwards.

This year a big trend locally seems to involve straight-ticket voting. The assumption seems to be that a lot of first-time voters (read: blacks) will want to cast an actual vote for Barack Obama, as opposed to or in addition to voting a straight-ticket Democratic vote.

"If you punch Barack Obama for president and then punch Straight-Ticket you will NEGATE your vote," one e-mail says. Another takes the opposite tack, saying a vote for Obama won't count unless you also vote straight-ticket Democratic.